Justin Jefferson is one of the most dominant receivers in the NFL.
No receiver has more receiving yards in their first three seasons than Jefferson. Few receivers can put up 100-yard performances week in and week out. Even fewer receivers can claim to win the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year Award. Oh, and there’s a good chance that nobody else can make this catch against the Buffalo Bills.
In other words, Justin Jefferson is a star. But it feels like people have forgotten about that this offseason.
A quick scroll online shows that Jefferson doesn’t have as much potential as Christian Watson. Another swipe up shows that Jefferson is a product of Kirk Cousins’ play at quarterback and Kevin O’Connell’s offense. Then another swipe would show ESPN analyst Ryan Clark declaring that George Pickens has more talent than Jefferson.
Vikings fans might be perplexed about how Jefferson, who was ranked second overall on the NFL’s recent Top 100 Players list behind Patrick Mahomes, could not be as good as it seems. But a deeper dive shows that these comparisons are a measure of respect that few receivers can get.
Let’s start with the most recent claims by Clark. Appearing on NFL Live this week, Clark was enamored in a conversation about Pickens, who is entering his second year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. A former Steeler himself, Clark couldn’t resist spewing out the black-and-yellow Kool-Aid he had ingested by the gallon when he dropped his hot take for workout aficionados on the 3 p.m. circuit at the gym to see.
But his take also came with a caveat. Clark believes that Jefferson has reached his peak form as one of the best receivers in the NFL, while Pickens believes he can reach that level once being fully acclimated to the NFL.
“Coach [Mike] Tomlin told me something that I thought was great,” Clark explained. “He said they didn’t even work to tolerate him and they certainly didn’t try to raise him at Georgia. They didn’t embrace who George Pickens is. When you got five-star [players] everywhere, it doesn’t matter because you can run the ball for 250 yards a game. But now at Pittsburgh and talking to [former Steelers] cornerback Ike Taylor about the way the entire team loves his attitude and loves the way he approaches his job, that’s what the Pittsburgh Steelers have done for him.”
New Steelers and former Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson reinforced this take by agreeing that Pickens has yet to reach his final form.
“GP is very, very raw,” Peterson said. “He’s very unpredictable when the ball is coming his way in terms of catching ability. On my podcast All Things Covered the other day, I called his hands magnets because if the ball is coming near them, he finds a way to come down with the catch. Justin is a savant of the position. He’s really, really tuned in how to manipulate the defensive back and set his routes up. He’s going into year four. GP is going into Year 2. There are still some things that he wants to get better at.”
Those who read the first sentence of Clark’s take may have thought he was bashing Jefferson, but the full context of the quote, combined with Peterson’s take, shows that Clark was discussing the level Pickens could reach, which is more of a compliment towards Jefferson – even if it’s hyperbole.
The same goes for a take across the river, where Bruce Irons, who is the founder of Packers For The Win, stated that Watson has more potential than Jefferson. In his take, Irons referenced Watson’s athleticism, which registered a higher Relative Athletic Score coming out of North Dakota State in 2022 than Jefferson did out of LSU in 2020.
“Watson has no physical limitations and showed big-play ability in his limited time coming off an injury,” Irons wrote. “Not saying that he’s better or even that he will be better, [he] just has more potential.”
Again, this is a take on what they feel Watson could become and Watson’s numbers could go up by default if he avoids injury and Jordan Love proves to be a competent quarterback but it’s another take that could be the most absurd of them all.
Andrew Perloff of CBS Sports completely went off the rails when he suggested that Jefferson’s success has been made off the backs of O’Connell’s system and Cousins’ play at quarterback. While co-host Maggie Gray stared in disbelief, Perloff doubled down and scoffed at the players voting Jefferson as second on the top 100 list.
“This whole list is not friendly enough to quarterbacks,” Perloff said. “The top three is Patrick Mahomes, Justin Jefferson makes no sense, but Jalen Hurts is three. He’s not even the best wide receiver, and why would a wide receiver be above all of the quarterbacks?”
Maybe because that receiver is really freaking good.
If Perloff wanted to dig deeper, he could go all the way back to Jefferson’s LSU days. While his draft stock was dinged due to a majority of his snaps coming in the slot, it was because Joe Brady’s offense put the best receiver on the team in that position to create mismatches.
Again, this could be seen as a product of the system, but it’s more impressive when you consider that Ja’Marr Chase was in the same offense and Jefferson was catching passes from Joe Burrow.
Even during his LSU days, Jefferson showed elite route-running ability, production, and everything you would want in a receiver, and that hasn’t stopped during his first three seasons in the NFL.
So, again, why is Jefferson catching all of these strays this offseason? It’s because he is the measuring stick for all receivers in the NFL.
No receiver can claim the production Jefferson has had over the past three years. While some pass-catchers might have better hands, athleticism or situations, Jefferson is a complete receiver that is the answer to “Who is the best?”
Who is the best route runner? Jefferson.
Who has the best production? Jefferson.
Who is the best at contested catches? Jefferson.
You can see where I’m going with this.
People could say that a receiver has more talent than Davante Adams or Tyreek Hill, but it wouldn’t carry the same excitement as Jefferson. Entering the fourth season of his career, Jefferson is what all receivers strive to be. Until that isn’t the case, there will always be hot takes and comparisons as everyone tries to pump up their own.
